Medici

Another Knizia auction game, themed around shipping commodities in the Renaissance. Your various tasks in Medici -- filling your ship with the most valuable cargo, competing to bring home the most loads of particular types of cargo, maximising the amount of gold you have each turn, and so on -- are all counterbalanced in a way that reminds one of a fine machine. Even dealing cards has a strategic element in this game: depending on how full your ships and your opponents' ships are, you may be able to prevent your opponents from getting some choice cargo by dealing more than their ships can carry -- and you may even be able to rig it so that you can win an auction lot with a single gold piece by being the only bidder!

The Medici board, cards, and playing pieces are pictured above (along with the Slug, meandering along looking for a good deal). You can see there are 5 kinds of cargo: spices, dye, cloth, furs, and grain. The green and purple boards above and below the main board are two ships -- you can see each can carry only 5 items of cargo. Judge wisely...